$1 Stamp = Cute Card

Here is a cute and simple card to begin your week.  I got this stamp for $1 at Walmart!  How cute is this?  I have seen several that are very similar, made by other companies, that are so much more expensive!  I made this card using four different stamp colors in the Stampin UP! set of Earth Elements.  I then stamped the image on 2x2 white squares and roughed up the edges of the white and the craft paper and then applied it to the blue base card.  I thought the blue just "worked" even though the rest of the card didn't have any blue.  I added the twine because it just needed something else....do you ever feel that way?  Ribbon was going to take away too much from the card but twine was just right!  This card winds up being 4.5x4.5 inch square.  I made a 5x5 envelope and stamped the same image on the outside of the envelope.  The envelope tutorial is HERE.

Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

Scrapbook Layout???

Okay everyone, I know that on Friday I usually send out a new scrapbooking layout....but, I haven't gotten it done yet.  I was working on a 2 page layout when I realized I didn't print one of the most important pictures.....life happens.  I am working on it but without that picture I just can't get it going very well because I can't "picture" it in my mind without having that picture in my hand....so, either I will finish it without the picture and just add it later, or I will do another page tomorrow.  So sorry for the delay!  Just in case I don't get it done by tomorrow, here is a link to a very cute layout I saw yesterday!  Hope you all have a great weekend of crafting and remember, it is always homemade!

www.stampwithheather.typepad.com   It is the post for Friday, April 27th

Criss Cross Box...Pinterest. Again.

Yes, I have been on Pinterest again!  This was pinned by my best friends' Mom and I just had to try it too!  It was super easy!  I will post at the end the link to the original blog post of the person who did this little box.  The only thing is is that I am pretty sure she mis-typed a measurement.  I will also give you the correct measurements at the bottom of this post.  I think this would be great for a class treat box...i.e. a cookie for Valentine's Day or for any occasion really!  Just go with it and use it for whatever YOU think it could be used for.  It is the perfect size for a small treat! 

The website where you can find this tutorial:  www.heartlandpaper.typepad.com/heartland_paper/2009/03/a-weekend-project.html

The CORRECT Measurements:

Vertical Score Lines:  4 inches and at 5 inches

Horizontal Score Lines:  3 inches, 4 inches, 7 inches and 8 inches
Below:  Cut on the dotted lines

Have fun making these treat boxes!  It is always a better tasting treat when it is homemade!  Have a great day!



Pillowcase Dresses and Bloomers

Here is another sewing project that I made for my little girl for this summer!  So cute and so easy!  I followed two different patterns...one for the dress and one for the bloomers.  The links are listed below.  I do not have a serger (yet) :-) and so I really liked this girl's tutorial because she made this dress for someone to copy that didn't have a serger.  She finishes the seams with a 1/4 inch seam before she even starts the "making" of the dress.  It was super easy...seriously it took about 20 minutes from start to finish!  I went with her suggested measurements for the 2T/3T size of fabric and you can tell that the blue polka dot dress is a little too wide but it still is very cute and she will grow into it better as she gets bigger.  The black print dress I made several inches slimmer and it is perfect.  I also made it longer as well.  You can make it as wide or long as you would like.  I suggest making one in some fabric that you don't really care about and then change the measurements accordingly if needed.  Here are the links to the tutorials.  The dress pattern is on a blog and I have included the video regarding the making for the bloomers.

Pillowcase Dress:  www.sewlikemymom.com/easiest-pillowcase-dress-ever/

Pants Tutorial via YouTube:

                                                                        PART 1

PART 2

Hope this helps you make these adorable dresses and bloomers.  I am sure there will be more in my future!  Have fun and remember it is always homemade!

NYC Album Continued...

These two pages are the next in our NYC album!  This is going to be a list of things we did each day of the week that we were in the city.  They were jam packed days...we ran the whole time we were there.  You know, there are some vacations that are relaxing and then some that are not, well, this one was NOT!  We had a blast but we came home more tired than when we left!  But, all in all, it was totally worth it!  I wanted to make of list of the things we did and saw so this is how I came up with this layout.  Now, the pictures in the album may not exactly go with the order in which we did them but with this page, we will always remember what we did each day.  Hope you like this layout and it inspires you to work on a vacation album!  Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

Bow Board and How-to For $5

So, since my daughter is almost two, I thought I better get this project done!  Her bows have been just in a small (too small) box sitting in her room since she had enough hair to wear one.  I just made her some new, bigger bows and the box just became way too small.  Every time we put a bow in her hair we had to dump the whole box out to find the bow we wanted....So. Not. Fun!  So, FINALLY, I got myself in gear and put this together one night.  It really only took about 30 minutes!  It was so easy.  I have to give props to my friend Julie who gave me this idea because she had made one for her little girl and I just had to have one too for Darcie!  This makes it so much easier to find the bow you want and you actually have the pair right together!  Imagine that! 

Alright, here are the items you need and the general instructions:

Items you need:

Glue Gun

Foam Board (I bought a piece that was 1/4 inch thick and it measured 20 inches by 35 inches and I cut it

                         down to  20x15)  You can make it whatever size you want to!

                                                   Picture of the side of the Foam Board

Fabric (enough to cover the piece of foam you cut)

Ribbon to match your fabric

Scissors

Instructions:

1.  Get you glue gun plugged in and ready to go...you want it pretty hot.  Let it warm up to the highest heat possible.

2.  Cut a piece of fabric that measures about 2 to 3 inches wider and longer on each side of the foam sheet.  My foam sheet was 20x15 so my piece of fabric was roughly 26x21.

3.  Place the foam on the wrong side of the fabric piece and glue fabric to the back of the foam board being sure to pull the fabric tight so that there are no bubbles on the front side.

4.  Cut the ribbon strips to be about 2 to 3 inches longer on each side of the board so that you have room to secure it to the back just like you did the fabric.

5.  Adhere the ribbon strips equal distance from each other (I used 5 strips) so you can see how I spaced my strips out evenly.

6.  Adhere a piece of ribbon to use as the hanging mechanism....one piece secured in each top corner on the back of the board.

7.  Attach bows! 

I also added a little pocket that I sewed together so that I would have a place to put her rubber bands...I attached a hair clip to the back of the pocket and clipped it right on the ribbon just like you would a bow.  It works GREAT!  And, it is really cute!!!  :-)  Because...that is what matters!

You may not believe that this only cost $5 but with coupons and sales it only cost right at $5!  I got the fabric for $3 at Hobby Lobby.  The foam board was $1.99 but with a coupon it was only $1.20.  Then the spool of ribbon was 50% off of 1.99 which made that $1.00.  So the grand total is $5.20!  

Hope you make one for your little girl!  It is SOOOOO worth it!  I can't say that enough!  Have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

$1 Card Sets...For The "Creativity-Challanged"

I know many out there are looking at this blog and others thinking, "How do these people come up with this stuff?  I could never do anything this creative!"....but, I am here to tell you, that YES YOU CAN!!  Today's post and video is just for you!  If you can glue, tie a bow and use a stamp....YOU CAN DO THIS!!  One of these sets came from the dollar area in Target and the other came from the dollar area in Micheal's.  For two whole dollars, a stamp and a couple of scrap pieces of paper, you can have a whole set of homemade cards in your pocket!  Watch the video and see what you can accomplish in just a few minutes!  The final pics are below. 

And for those of you who think you are NOT creative, just remember, push yourself a little bit because it is always better when you believe in yourself and actually do something out of your comfort zone!  Remember, it is always fun and always homemade!

Egg Cups...Reuse!

Here is my little "Green" tip for the day....

Most people that have kids most likely dyed eggs this past weekend in one way or another.  The brand of dye we bought was at Walmart and included these really nifty plastic cups that when I pulled them out my immediate thought was, "Hey, I could use these for paint with the kids or Modge-Podge...or something crafty!!"  I mean, seriously, they are perfect for something along those lines.  The best thing about them is that they are easily cleaned and also compress down into a very small pile of plastic!  They are under my craft table right now, waiting to use them in the future.  Just a thought....

Also, the two pages of colored strips that are in those boxes (that are meant to be little stands for the dyed eggs...which we never use) would be great to use to cut out ovals and make multi-striped eggs....
Just another thought...

NYC

So, I have officially started working on our NYC trip album!  Almost a year later, but who's counting?  What's really sad is that there are MANY trips before the NYC trip that haven't even been touched!  Seriously....   This will be the first "Title" page of the album.  The next page will most likely be a who, what, when, where, why page that gives some background info for the trip.  Then begins the pics of all the places we went!  I think it will be a fun album to put together.  After this album is done, maybe I will get to all the other trips.  I may just start working backwards!  :-)

I got this awesome paper pack at Tuesday Morning (once again, a great store) the other day for only $1.99.  It is a Basic Grey paper pack that has "city" themed paper.  PERFECT for this album.  It has paper with cars, subway maps, city maps, bricks, city scapes...etc.  It is awesome!  I may have to go back and get another pack of it!  I may run out of all the cute paper!  It is in sheets of 6x6 paper.  It will be perfect for this album because I am doing this album in an 8 1/2 x 11 album size.  I don't usually use this size, but it works great for short vacation books.  Have I told you how much I LOVE this paper yet????  :-)

Hope you have a great day of crafting and remember, it is always homemade!

Teacher Gifts

I sent my son's teachers their Easter Gifts to school today! Yes, I am a little late...last week at this time I had the cards done but just didn't get the bags put together in time and I could have done it myself and gotten it done in time but Harrison wanted to help (and I wanted him to) so they had to wait an extra week...better late than never, right?

The apple card above went to his primary teacher, the music note card to his music teacher, and the other two packs went to their helpers. The apple card and the music note card are pretty self explanatory. They were fun to make and I think they will be a big hit! The flowered card is so cute and so quick and easy that it is one of my go-to designs when I am in a pinch. I ran 4 different colors of cards through my Cuttlebug with this flowered design and then you just ink the embossed image and you call it quits! It is very well received and a blank card that anyone can use for a quick note.

I hope you enjoy these cards and I hope it inspires you to do some themed cards! Hve a great day and remember, the best gift is always homemade!

Tunic Dress Pattern

Seriously, this dress looks like a hard pattern to follow and accomplish, but it was so easy! I made it within two hours...next time, it will not take as long. I think I am going to try and slim down the pattern and make my daughter some long sleeve shirts for the winter as well...I will let you know how that goes. I think it will be easy to change the pattern to fit my needs...that is what you want, right? I changed the pattern in two ways...I cut the arms short to make it a nice dress for the summer and then I added the pleated ruffle on the bottom. When I finished the basic tunic dress, it was a little too short for my liking so, I decided to add the ruffle. I am still working on how to do ruffles and so this one is more of a pleated ruffle appearance. At least it is more even than my first attempt at ruffling! ;)

The pattern is on blogs.babble.com and if you search "dress patterns" a website comes up that says "25 Free Dress Patterns"...this is the link that you need to click on...You then click on the tunic dress and it will take you to the tutorial. It is an awesome tutorial with pictures at every step!

I hope you have as much fun as I did making this dress! It turned ut so cute and when she wore it to church services this past Wednesday night, she got many compliments! She was soooo cute in it too! Remember, it is always fun and always homemade! Have a great week!

10 Minute Layout

Do you ever have those pictures that you want to fit on one page but that you really can't cut down...well, that is exactly what happened to me with this layout!  If I would have thought of it before, I could have printed these out as wallet size photos and probably have done a cuter layout, but, alas, that is not what happened.  So, sometimes you just have to do a REALLY simple layout instead of something that takes more thought...but, you know what, it is done and now sitting in my little girl's first yeat album.  These faces should have opened our eyes to what we had gotten ourselves into!  She was a mess then and she is even a bigger mess now!  She keeps me on my toes, I can tell you that! 

Even though it is simple and quick, it is still homemade!  Have a great day everyone!

Score Board Creation

This is a quick card I made one day after trying out the checkered embossing technique using only a score board.  The checkered background was done on the scoreboard, scoring every 1/4 inch.  I then inked the raised lines to create this look!  How cool is this???  I did it in about 2 minutes.  I then added the ribbon and the "just a note" sentiment.  Seriously, so easy and quick!  Perfect for when you are in a hurry!

Have a great day!  I am busy sewing this week!  :-)  More sewing projects to come!  :)  Remember, it is always homemade!

First Project on the NEW Machine!!!

This is my first project on the new sewing machine that I bought 2 weeks ago with all of my birthday money!!  Now, this is the most simple of all projects that are sure to be done on this machine!  You buy the fabric already smocked...all I had to do was the back seam to connect the fabric and the two straps.  I bought this fabric at Walmart on sale!!!  That is the best deal ever!!  I did not plan on buying this type of fabric but when I saw it, and it was on sale, I just had to buy it!  I also made a hairbow to go with it using the same fabric.  The picture of it is below...

To see a YouTube tutorial for this hairbow, just click on the video below...  I did mine a little different than hers.  I actually used hot glue as I brought the sides into the middle.  I also added the flower on top instead of a button.  Make it your own creation!!



Hope you all have a great day.  It may be a sewing project instead of a paper craft, but it is always homemade!!

Four-Patch Quilt Square



So, several months ago, I went through my quilting box (one of those clear containers that rolls under a bed) and found so many projects that are unfinished...so, my new goal, when I am not paper-crafting, I am going to start working on these unfinished quilts that are just sitting under my bed, getting old!  Here is the first one that I plan to complete.  We lived in Lubbock, Texas for 3 years while my husband worked on his Ed. D. (Doctorate of Education), and while we were there I caught up on scrapbooking and quilted A LOT!  He was not at home much because he was working at the school so much that I had plenty of time to do things that I never had time to do before.  (That was a long sentence!)  Anyway, I made several quilts while we lived there and started several more.  When we lived in Lubbock I attended a monthly quilt block class at the Bernina shop in town.  It was one Saturday a month and each month, they gave you a quilt square to work on for that month ahead along with the material that you needed to complete it.  It was an AWESOME class.  It was totally FREE too which made it even better!  I learned so much and made so many blocks.  Well, those are sitting in my container as well.  All I need to do to them is sew them together and get them quilted!  When we moved to North Alabama, we had a 6 month old baby boy that took up most of my time and at night when he was asleep, I was worn out  and didn't even think about sewing or scrapbooking.  Sad, huh??  :-)

So, now that I am a little more "together" and settled into a routine with two kids, it is time to complete some projects!  This, like I said already, will be the first one to complete.  My husband and I do not sleep under the decorative comforter that is on our bed.  It is soooooo hot!  So, we sleep under a handmade quilt that we bought years ago.  It is starting to fray in some areas and we really need another quilt to sleep under and that will be the purpose of this one!  We have sage green walls in our bedroom and this will match perfectly.  And now that I have a new sewing machine, I am motivated to start working on this once again!  Wish me luck!!  :-)

The picture below are the already finished pieces that were just sitting in a basket to be put together to finish each of the 42 squares.  I have all of these pieces already done so really the hard part is over.  Now it is just straight stitches!  I think I counted 15 completed squares, which means many more to go!  

I hope you all have a great week and like the projects that will be posted in the next few days!  Don't forget, it is always homemade!